Why do Americans say 'British' when they mean 'English'?

[Alberon]

A bloke I work with refuses to identify as British because he doesn't want anything to do with "those people" by which he means the Scottish, Welsh and Irish. The same guy once said he can't be bothered to cook because all food apparently tastes the same and that winning the lottery would be pointless once you'd bought everything you wanted and it'd mainly involve a lot of sitting around. I'd love to know what the inside of his brain is like.

Echoey, by the sound of it.

As to Scotland's status isn't a major reason it ended up part of the UK eventually was that it bankrupted itself trying to get in on the overseas colonisation business?

[Psybro]

That's exactly it, it's erring on the side of caution, especially when faced with a thick Geordie or Liverpudlian accent.

At least they have 'British' as a fall back, 'North American' sounds daft if you're not 100% sure if somebody's from one of the bits of Canada where they don't sound like Terence and Philip or the US.

[Bentpitch]

I was once told by an old American boomer man in a restaurant in Budapest that despite being from Scotland, my "British English" was great and he could understand "nearly everything".

[gilbertharding]

I was once told by an old American boomer man in a restaurant in Budapest that despite being from Scotland, my "British English" was great and he could understand "nearly everything".

I worked in a call centre a long time ago (Saga Holidays brochure request line) and I'll never forget the guy who rang up from Glasgow who sounded like Kenny Dalglish after a stroke.

Sorry if you never got your holiday brochures mate; I tried really hard to understand you, but I thought if I asked you to speak any slower you'd think I was taking the piss. Spelling out the words didn't really help, either.

[touchingcloth]

I mean, speaking as a Scottish person, Scotland's status is pretty unusual. We have our own legal system and also we don't; we have our own national identity and call ourselves a country while also having been heavily involved in the British Empire, because we are part of the British State.

This is all contested and confusing even in actual Scotland. I'm not surprised people thousands of miles away get confused. We are two different things simultaneously in a world which feels increasingly uncomfortable with ambiguities; identity here sometimes revolves around picking one.

But just like Britain might see the Republic of Ireland as foreign and not foreign at the same time, we probably are British and not British at the same time— words being a confusing mess that suggest way too many things at once. The idea that any of this is simple and can be resolved with a dictionary is more naive than what the Americans are doing: their confusion at least shows they can see there is something confusing here, while the title of this thread cannot

I wonder if things would have been better if the Acts of Union had happened in 1907 rather than 1707, and whether we'd have become a federal republic? As a Brit I understand how our central and devolved governments work without it seeming too insane to me, but I get very angry at things like how the individual states of the USA can set things like what their taxes are and whether or not they have a death penalty. Yet is it any more nuts than Scots and English law being very different things, and the Scottish Parliament setting taxes that are collected by HMRC, and not having a whole life tariff on their statutes? Hat tip to @Zetetic here because I'm pretty sure I lived most of my life thinking in terms of "the NHS", and now I'm drilled into asking "which one?"

[madhair60]

personally i'm on the side of the americans with this one.

O say can you see, by the dawn's early light,
What so proudly we hail'd at the twilight's last gleaming,
Whose broad stripes and bright stars through the perilous fight
O'er the ramparts we watch'd were so gallantly streaming?
And the rocket's red glare, the bombs bursting in air,
Gave proof through the night that our flag was still there,
O say does that star-spangled banner yet wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave?

On the shore dimly seen through the mists of the deep
Where the foe's haughty host in dread silence reposes,
What is that which the breeze, o'er the towering steep,
As it fitfully blows, half conceals, half discloses?
Now it catches the gleam of the morning's first beam,
In full glory reflected now shines in the stream,
'Tis the star-spangled banner - O long may it wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave!

And where is that band who so vauntingly swore,
That the havoc of war and the battle's confusion
A home and a Country should leave us no more?
Their blood has wash'd out their foul footstep's pollution.
No refuge could save the hireling and slave
From the terror of flight or the gloom of the grave,
And the star-spangled banner in triumph doth wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave.

O thus be it ever when freemen shall stand
Between their lov'd home and the war's desolation!
Blest with vict'ry and peace may the heav'n rescued land
Praise the power that hath made and preserv'd us a nation!
Then conquer we must, when our cause it is just,
And this be our motto - "In God is our trust,"
And the star-spangled banner in triumph shall wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave.

[touchingcloth]

Gloam of the grave, more like.

[Bentpitch]

personally i'm on the side of the americans with this one.

O say can you see, by the dawn's early light,
What so proudly we hail'd at the twilight's last gleaming,
Whose broad stripes and bright stars through the perilous fight
O'er the ramparts we watch'd were so gallantly streaming?
And the rocket's red glare, the bombs bursting in air,
Gave proof through the night that our flag was still there,
O say does that star-spangled banner yet wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave?

On the shore dimly seen through the mists of the deep
Where the foe's haughty host in dread silence reposes,
What is that which the breeze, o'er the towering steep,
As it fitfully blows, half conceals, half discloses?
Now it catches the gleam of the morning's first beam,
In full glory reflected now shines in the stream,
'Tis the star-spangled banner - O long may it wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave!

And where is that band who so vauntingly swore,
That the havoc of war and the battle's confusion
A home and a Country should leave us no more?
Their blood has wash'd out their foul footstep's pollution.
No refuge could save the hireling and slave
From the terror of flight or the gloom of the grave,
And the star-spangled banner in triumph doth wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave.

O thus be it ever when freemen shall stand
Between their lov'd home and the war's desolation!
Blest with vict'ry and peace may the heav'n rescued land
Praise the power that hath made and preserv'd us a nation!
Then conquer we must, when our cause it is just,
And this be our motto - "In God is our trust,"
And the star-spangled banner in triumph shall wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave.

Oh, good point.

[popcorn]

Why do people say Americans when they mean citizens of the United States of America?

[Cold Meat Platter]

Why do people say Americans when they mean citizens of the United States of America?

far shorter

[jamiefairlie]

I wonder if things would have been better if the Acts of Union had happened in 1907 rather than 1707, and whether we'd have become a federal republic? As a Brit I understand how our central and devolved governments work without it seeming too insane to me, but I get very angry at things like how the individual states of the USA can set things like what their taxes are and whether or not they have a death penalty. Yet is it any more nuts than Scots and English law being very different things, and the Scottish Parliament setting taxes that are collected by HMRC, and not having a whole life tariff on their statutes? Hat tip to @Zetetic here because I'm pretty sure I lived most of my life thinking in terms of "the NHS", and now I'm drilled into asking "which one?"

" I wonder if things would have been better if the Acts of Union had happened in 1907 rather than 1707, and whether we'd have become a federal republic?"

No because England can never be a substate. That's why the EU was always so difficult for them. The UK works for them because it's run by and for England.

[Attila]

My mom, who was 91 when she died 4 years ago, told everyone that I lived in London. That is, 'London' meaning the entire UK.

I started travelling to various points and countries in the UK 30 years ago, and no matter where I was based (Blairgowrie frequently, all over England, Wales, &c), she told people 'Oh, she's gone back to London.'

She used to address parcels to me as
Attila
Street address
City
the actual county that I live in
postal code
London

Could not convince her that the entire place was NOT called London.

That said, bizarrely, whenever I'm down here in Rome and its environs, and end up in a market or some place outside of central where people speak little to no English, they hear me speak English and assume I'm German. Every time. I roll with it because I can speak German, but also because one time when it happened (I had to nip into a cafe to confirm directions), both the owner and his cook were absolutely delighted and kept using 'Scheisse!!!' as if it were punctuation.

I don't speak English with a German accent; my accent is all mixed up from having lived between London (!) and the coast + Mr Attila all these years.

Wunderbar.

[touchingcloth]

Hang about...something about seeing "wunderbar" written down makes me suspect I've only just realised an 0BV10u5 thing - is Wonderbra a play on that?

[Dex Sawash]

No but underwire is